


if you got something that you need to say

by goodmanperfectsoldier



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, First Kiss, M/M, Platonic Kissing, Truth or Dare, minimal Steve/Others
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 07:15:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18310778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodmanperfectsoldier/pseuds/goodmanperfectsoldier
Summary: For Pan's Twitterpals 1st Annual Crack Exchange.The prompt was: Steve and Bucky are always together, so much so that during a round of truth or dare at the prom after party, Tony is determined to ask. Steve, being the predictable little shit he is, chooses dare instead. Tony still gets his answer, as does a shocked yet very happy Bucky.I went a little off-book but that's still the gist!





	if you got something that you need to say

**Author's Note:**

> Please note! This is a high school AU so they are teens, but both are fully above the age of consent and there is no explicit content in the fic, either!

“Truth or dare,” Tony asks, grinning. Steve doesn’t like that look on his face; that’s the look he gets when he has A Plan, and Tony’s plans rarely, if ever, go well for Steve. 

It had been Tony’s plan for all of them to go to prom in a group, instead of pairing off, and that had actually turned out in Steve’s favor. He hadn’t had to find a date (and there was no chance of that), and he hadn’t had to watch Bucky entertain one, either. So it was only fair that now, gathered at Tony’s for the night following the prom itself, Steve would end up screwed. And not in the fun way. 

“Well?” Tony asks. They’re all still waiting for Steve’s response. He wishes he knew what Tony’s plan was; it was probably to embarrass him somehow, but was it more likely to be with a question or a command? Steve takes another second to consider, and then Bucky pokes him in the side and he realizes, _shit_. 

Tony, unfortunately, totally knows about Steve’s crush on Bucky. Tony’s known for over a year, ever since he caught Steve staring at Bucky’s ass during one of Bucky’s baseball games. And he’s been determined to convince Steve to confess, especially as they’ve gotten closer to graduation. Steve wouldn’t put it past him to break out something like “Tell us who have a crush on,” or some other grade school shit right now.

He could lie. But then he’d lose, and Tony would probably blurt it out anyway to punish him.

Bucky pokes him again. Shit.

“Dare,” Steve says. Tony grins bigger.

Fuck.

“I’ll give you two options,” Tony says, because he always has to make things complicated. “You can kiss the person you like, right here, right now. Or! You can kiss everyone here, whenever and wherever you want, before morning. You pick.”

Steve very, very carefully does not look at Bucky. He glares at Tony instead.

“Second option,” Steve says, after a moment. The entire crowd of friends lets out a long, quiet “oh” in unison.

(Except Bucky. But Steve maybe doesn’t notice that.)

“Alright, you’ve chosen your fate,” Tony says. “Before sunrise! And everyone needs to report to me when they’ve had their turn. You wanna get anyone out of the way right now?”

“Sure,” Steve says, and leans across the circle to smack his lips against Tony’s cheek. Before Tony can react, Steve follows it up with a wet willy. If Tony wants to act like they’re in elementary school, Steve will, too. Tony shrieks like a child and pushes him away.

“Ugh, nasty, Steve, get away,” he yells. “I’m not responsible for anything gross he does to any of the rest of you, by the way,” he adds, pointing around the circle.

“I’m not gonna do anything gross to anyone else, Tony, that was special, just for you,” Steve says. “And I won’t kiss anyone who doesn’t want it, either, and you can’t hold that against me.” Steve finally allows himself to glance at Bucky, but he’s not looking back. He’s whispering something to Sam. Huh.

“Yes, yes, consent is sexy, yes,” Tony says, waving his hand. “You’re all allowed to say no, of course! But he has to ask, that’s the rules. Who’s turn is it next?”

The game goes on for another round until they all get bored and decide to move on to something else. Thankfully, Steve doesn’t have to suffer through any more of Tony’s dumb dares before the circle breaks up. 

Now he just has to get going on the last one. He makes a list in his head: Tony. Rhodey. Bruce. Sam. Natasha. Clint. Peggy. Bucky.

Tony’s done. He’ll ask Peggy next; they dated briefly, freshman year, and they’re still good friends, and she kisses him on the cheek all the time, anyway. Easy. Clint’ll kiss anyone; so will Nat. He might owe Sam a soda. Bruce and Rhodey are wild cards - Steve’s not as close to them, so they may or may not say yes. 

And then there’s Bucky.

Bucky, who is the only one he really wants to kiss. Bucky, who he really doesn’t want to kiss as part of a stupid dare on prom night. Bucky, who might very well say no. Bucky, his best friend and his crush of, like, ten years, who he is definitely leaving for last. Just in case he needs to leave in the morning and never show his face again.

They all decide to head downstairs to Tony’s fancy home theater, and half of them peel off to the kitchen to collect snacks first. Steve catches Peggy in the hallway; she accepts his kiss on the cheek and gives him one in return.

Clint, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey are all in the kitchen. Natasha also accepts a peck on the cheek. Clint waits for Steve to ask permission and then leans in himself and kisses Steve right on the mouth. Steve makes a big show of wiping his lips off with his shirt but they’re both laughing. Rhodey also says yes, “but not on the lips, I like you, but not that much,” so Steve gives him a quick kiss on the forehead, instead. Bruce politely declines but says it’s okay if Steve blows him a kiss when Steve (jokingly) offers.

And that’s…practically the entire dare, done! Easier than Steve thought it would be, honestly. But he has good friends, so maybe he shouldn’t be so surprised.

They join the rest of the group in the theater room a few minutes later and Steve finds Sam and Bucky sitting together on the couch in the back, talking quietly again. When he approaches, they scoot apart to give him the seat in the middle.

“Hey, Buck,” Steve says, softer than he means to. He thinks he sees Bucky’s cheeks go a little pink, but it must just be the weird lighting. Tony’s already got the lights down and the movie ready. 

“Hey, Stevie,” Bucky says. “Saved ya a seat.” He smiles and it’s not his usual grin; it’s softer, too. Steve thinks he must be tired. 

“Thanks.” He holds Bucky’s gaze for another moment and then settles into the seat and turns to Sam.

"Sam,” he starts, but Sam interrupts him. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Plant one on me. But you owe me, Rogers,” he says, seriously. Steve laughs, then leans over and kisses Sam on the cheek. 

Sam grins and shouts to Tony, who is down in the front, “Tony! He got me!” Steve groans. Tony whoops and shoots them a double thumbs-up from across the room.

“I didn’t think you had it in you, Rogers! That’s everyone except Barnes, and it’s only…” Tony takes a second to check his watch. “Three in the morning!”

Steve tries to keep from squirming at Bucky’s name, especially now that Bucky’s sitting right next to him. He waits until Tony’s turned back around to look in Bucky’s direction, and he finds that Bucky’s been watching him. He must not want Steve to know, though, because he looks away when Steve turns; Steve only catches the tail end of the movement.

“Buck,” he says, reaching over and putting his hand on Bucky’s leg.

“Yeah?” Bucky says, turning back to him. He’s definitely flushed, Steve can see. He wonders why.

Before Steve can say anything, though, the lights go almost completely out, and the movie begins.

“Uh, we can. Talk later,” Steve says. No point in trying to now; he can’t really see Bucky and he certainly won’t be able to hear him.

“Sure,” Bucky says, and he maybe doesn’t sound so sure about it, actually, but it’s hard to tell with the movie already blaring through the room’s fancy surround sound system.

They both settle in to watch the movie, and Steve finds himself drifting off sooner rather than later. He’s just thinking,  _ Fuck, I gotta talk to Bucky first, _ before he’s out. At some point, an arm wraps around him and pulls him close. At some point, a blanket covers him. At some point, the movie ends.

At least, that’s how Steve wakes up. The screen is black, there’s a quilt draped over him, and he’s being held tightly by… Bucky. Oh no. 

He fumbles around for his phone, since there are no windows in the theater and Steve has lost all sense of what year it is. He’s careful not to disturb Bucky, sleeping soundly beneath him, but just as Steve’s turning the screen on and processing the fact that it says 6:26 AM, Bucky stirs.

“Hey, Stevie,” he says. Steve’s heart beats a little fast at the sound of the nickname, one that only Bucky ever uses. “Morning yet?” Bucky nods at the phone in Steve’s hand.

“Nearly,” Steve says. He knows, logically, that he should move - he’s basically laying on top of Bucky at the moment - but when he finally forces himself to try, Bucky’s arm tightens around his waist.

“You ain’t gonna kiss me, then?” Bucky asks, in an unsuccessful attempt at his flirty voice, which Steve, unfortunately, knows all too well. It’s like he’s trying to keep the pleading out of his voice, and that’s - new. Steve’s never, in his entire life, known Bucky to plead.

“I, uh,” Steve says, and then he can’t think of anything else to say. He’d been planning to tell Bucky the truth, actually. That he had a big, sad, unrequited crush on the his best friend and he just couldn’t bring himself to kiss him in a way that didn’t matter. He’d rather never kiss Bucky than kiss him once as part of a dumbass dare. 

But that was before he went and fell asleep on him. And before he woke up to Bucky holding him tight and asking him - asking Steve to kiss him? Maybe? Is that what he’s doing? Steve, who would be graduating high school in two weeks, had never felt dumber in his entire life.

“Well?” Bucky asks, after Steve is silent. “You’re running out of time.” That snaps Steve out of his spiral.

“I’m running - Bucky,” he says, finally. “Bucky, I don’t wanna kiss you as part of some stupid dare. I don’t wanna kiss you because Tony told me to.” He can see that Bucky’s trying to keep his face from falling. Anyone else might be fooled by Bucky’s carefully schooled expression, but Steve knows that face better than his own.

“Oh,” Bucky says. “I was kinda...hoping.” He doesn’t finish the sentence, but Steve - Steve thinks he understands now. He drops his phone onto the floor and moves his free hand to cup Bucky’s cheek. It’s warm; he must be blushing again, Steve thinks, even though he can’t see it in the dark.

“Bucky,” Steve says, barely above a whisper. “I don’t want to kiss you on a dare. I want to kiss you because...I like you. And I always want to kiss you.” Bucky stares up at him, blinking, for long enough that Steve thinks maybe he made a mistake after all. But then Bucky leans, just a tiny bit, into Steve’s hand.

“So kiss me. Not because of the dare. Because I like you, too. And I always want you to kiss me,” Bucky says. And it takes Steve’s brain a half a second to process all of that, but when it does, he leans down and presses his lips against Bucky’s. 

It’s soft and chaste and somehow, it still makes fireworks go off behind Steve’s eyes. And when he pulls away, Bucky’s grinning, bright and real and beautiful.

Later, when Steve and Bucky come upstairs for breakfast holding hands, Tony asks what time they finally went for it.

“I don’t know, Tony,” Steve says, tiredly. “Like 6:30? 6:35?” Tony cackles. The way Bucky’s glaring at him makes Steve start to laugh, too.

“Ha!” Tony says. “Sunrise was at 6:27 on the dot. You lost!”

“Nah,” Steve says, squeezing Bucky’s hand. “I didn’t.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> \- thank you [@caleprwrite](https://twitter.com/caleprwrite) on Twitter for the prompt! Sorry that I didn't stick exactly to it, I hope this satisfied either way!  
> \- thank you also to [@aka_spacedog](https://twitter.com/aka_spacedog) for the beta and to [@panacea_knits](https://twitter.com/panacea_knits) for organizing the exchange!  
> \- title is from the graduation classic, Graduation (Friends Forever) by Vitamin C  
> \- check me out on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/softestbuck) for, frankly, a bunch of nonsense


End file.
